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Book drops landing all over Doncaster during lockdown

20 May 2020

We have gifted over 1,000 books in Doncaster during lockdown, working closely with community partners and schools to get books into the hands of children who need them most.

Doncaster Stories is a community campaign to encourage a love of reading across the town and help children improve their literacy levels to reach their full potential.

However, recent research from the National Literacy Trust found that almost 400,000 UK children do not have a book of their own at home. Of those, 19,000 are in the North East. These children are missing out on improved mental wellbeing and attainment at school as those who do own books are almost six times more likely to read above the expected level for their age. Disadvantaged children are also more likely to not have a book of their own.

We have therefore been working with community partners to gift hard copy books and audio CDs to children who will benefit the most. So far, we’ve organised book drops at 14 primary schools, five food banks, and three Family Hubs - with more to follow. In total, we've gifted over 1,000 books and CDs to local children with at least 600 more to follow. These include some of the 20,000 Roald Dahl books that we committed to Doncaster when we launched the campaign last year.

“We’ve been working hard to get books directly into the hands of children. Keeping up with good reading habits while schools are closed is really important, but more importantly it’s good for our mental health! Children who enjoy reading are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing so this is well worth doing.”

The National Literacy Trust is a registered charity no. 1116260 and a company limited by guarantee no. 5836486 registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in Scotland no. SC042944. Registered address: 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL.